Pals, the 2025-26 Calgary Flames season – and the 2026 draft lottery – is in the rear view mirror.

The Flames had one of their most challenging regular seasons in franchise history, with a rough start to the season dragging them to a fourth-from-last finish in the overall standings. It represents just their eighth bottom-six finish in franchise history.

When it comes to the 2026 NHL Draft, what can the franchise’s past tough seasons teach us about what the draft could bring? More specifically, how did the Flames leverage some of their past low finishes at the NHL Draft?

This will shock you, but the Flames didn’t do great in their first NHL season. In their inaugural campaign, playing as the Atlanta Flames in the brand-new Omni coliseum in downtown Atlanta, the Flames won just 25 games. Weirdly, the Flames’ expansion year struggles didn’t put them in the basement; they were fifth-from-last, ahead of Toronto, Vancouver, California, and the expansion New York Islanders.

The Flames had fifth overall spot in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft and pulled the trigger on a complicated trade with Montreal to move up. The Flames sent their first-rounder in 1973, their first-rounder in 1977 and their second-rounder in 1978 to the Canadiens in exchange for two 1973 first-rounders, second overall and 16th overall, and a 1973 second-rounder, 22nd overall.

Drafting at second overall, the Flames selected Medicine Hat Tigers forward Tom Lysiak, who became one of Atlanta’s early defining stars.

Thanks to the wheeling and dealing under general manager “Trader” Cliff Fletcher, the Flames didn’t hit the bottom six of the NHL’s standings again for nearly two decades. In 1991-92, they hit the ditch a bit, finishing fourth-from last after a 31-win season.

Unfortunately for the Flames, their rough year came at the same time that two expansion franchises joined the NHL and mucked around with the first round draft order. Rather than draft at fourth overall, the Flames were pushed down to sixth by the addition of expansion Tampa Bay and Ottawa.

The Flames selected Windsor Spitfires forward Cory Stillman at sixth overall. He played with the Flames for five seasons and was one of their more reliable offensive producers before being traded to St. Louis in 2001 for obscure forward Craig Conroy and a seventh-round pick.

Five years later, the Flames began a rough period for their franchise that featured back-to-back bottom-six finishes. The first one, in 1996-97, saw them win 32 games and finish sixth from the bottom.

With no expansion shenanigans, the Flames drafted at their slated spot, selecting Barrie Colts star forward Daniel Tkaczuk. He had concussion problems, though, and never quite panned out in the NHL.

The following season, the Flames had statistically their worst year ever – in terms of win percentage – picking up just 26 Ws over the campaign. This time they finished fifth-from-last.

In 1998, though, the addition of expansion Nashville bumped the Flames back from fifth to sixth overall. At six, they selected London Knights forward Rico Fata. Fata had consistency challenges and never quite met his potential at the NHL level.

The Flames stayed out of the basement for awhile after 1998, but they struggled during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, winning 19 of 48 games and beginning their previous rebuild when they traded Jarome Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester. They finished sixth-from-last.

Due to no lottery or expansion zaniness, they drafted sixth, taking Ottawa 67’s forward Sean Monahan, who became one of their more important players for the next decade or so.

In the first full year of the last rebuild, 2013-14, the Flames won 35 games and finished fourth-from-last.

Once again, the Flames drafted precisely where they finished, with the fourth pick, and selected Kingston Frontenacs forward Sam Bennett. (He was a pretty good Flame.)

And finally, the Flames lifted completely out of rebuild purgatory after 2016, but they got there after an uneven 35-win 2025-26 season. The Flames finished fifth-from-last, jumping up one spot in the standings with a win on the final day of the season.

The Flames lost the 2016 draft lottery, sliding back from fifth to sixth overall (Winnipeg leap-frogged them). They selected London Knights forward Matthew Tkachuk, which turned out fairly well, all things considered.